皇冠体育app

Energy

皇冠体育app to speed up shale gas development

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-25 09:28

BEIJING - 皇冠体育app aims to make major technological breakthroughs in developing shale gas to optimize the nation's energy structure, the nation's top energy official said on Thursday.

The National Energy Administration (NEA) is studying a policy of setting up pilot exploration areas and striving to industrialize shale gas as early as possible, NEA's director Liu Tienan said in talks with Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in Beijing.

Related readings:  Shell CEO has high hopes for 皇冠体育app's shale gas  CNOOC pays $570m to buy into US oil shale operation  皇冠体育app to auction 8 shale gas blocks in Q1  Petro皇冠体育app, Shell starts drilling shale gas well in Sichuan

Shale gas is an important unconventional source of natural gas. 皇冠体育app has exploitable reserves of 26 trillion cubic meters, as much as that found in the United States. The massive stockpiles, however, are largely undeveloped.

Due to shale being difficult to permeate, the exploration process is highly technology-dependent.

According to a national energy strategy studied by NEA and the National Development and Reform Commission, 皇冠体育app will select 50 to 80 potential shale gas areas and 20 to 30 exploration areas by 2020. The exploration capacity would hit 1 trillion cubic meters.